On Tuesday, a transgender woman petitioned the state of Washington’s Department of Corrections, claiming that her detention at a men’s jail violates her constitutional rights.
After residing at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) since 2021, Amber Kim was sent to the Monroe Correctional Complex in June. The ACLU of Washington, which filed the petition on Kim’s behalf, claims that the transfer of a transgender woman from a women’s jail to a men’s facility is the first time in Washington state history.
Kim’s lawyer, Adrien Leavitt, said that the relocation was an act of severe punishment that went against the Washington Constitution.
According to the court filings, her placement at a men’s prison poses an objectively significant danger of serious harm, and these conditions are not required to achieve any justifiable penological goal.
In a statement, the Washington Department of Corrections stated that it firmly emphasizes “the importance of inclusion and representation by recognizing the unique challenges that non-binary and transgender incarcerated people face,” but it was unable to comment on ongoing litigation.
The Department of Corrections stated that its policy “establishes procedures to ensure equitable treatment of transgender, intersex and/or gender non-binary people during intake screening and determining housing, classification, programming and supervision.”
The Washington state Department of Corrections guideline states that Kim committed a category B major offense in March when she was caught having sex with her cellmate, a cisgender woman.
Court documents state that the sexual act was consensual, and following an infraction hearing, Kim and her roommate were given different security statuses. However, after five weeks, the Department of Corrections decided that Kim was a safety issue and overturned its earlier determination that she could stay lodged at the correctional facility.
Kim stated in her court filing that she had committed no serious crimes prior to being discovered having sex.
“I used my time there to learn, to grow, and to positively contribute to the WCCW during the three and a half years that I was housed there,” Kim said in a statement. It hurts not only me but also all other transgender inmates to be singled out for special treatment and sent to a men’s prison for a single transgression.
At the age of 19, Kim, who is currently 36, was found guilty of aggravated first-degree murder. According to court documents, she presented as male for the first ten years of her captivity due to the risk she experienced on a daily basis. According to the filing seeking an accelerated review, she has been the victim of physical aggression, harassment, and attempted sexual assault throughout her more than ten years in men’s prisons.
According to the court filings, Kim was an active member of the community during her time at the women’s correctional facility, and the vast majority of women there were accepting of the transgender women residing there.
In her declaration, she said, “I was able to focus on my mental health, plan for the future, and engage with positive programming without the emotional burden of facing constant harassment and spending my time avoiding physical violence.”
Kim was thrown in solitary confinement when she arrived at Monroe Correctional Complex. According to court filings, she now chooses to stay there rather than face the physical and psychological abuse that would become her daily reality if she were placed in a general population for men.
Kim stated in her declaration that if she were sent back to the Washington Corrections Center for Women, she would continue on her path to recovery.
A 2012 modification to the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, a federal law designed to prevent sexual assault in prisons, mandates that institutions take into account the housing arrangements of trans convicts on an individual basis. In accordance with federal law, the Washington Department of Corrections policy considers a trans person’s personal safety concerns as well as known safety hazards when determining where to house them.
Nevertheless, a 2020 NBC News investigation revealed that trans offenders are rarely housed based on their gender identity, even after PREA was updated in 2012.
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